First Week
by Tofu Bastard
Summary: Sanae Hanekoma wasn't always an angel. As a teen, he played the Reaper's Game for his own chance at resurrection. This is the story of his game, and how he ended up falling for his partner, and future-reaper, Sho Minamimoto. Mild Slash, T for potential language.
1. Chapter 1

Hello! First of all, thanks for checking this out. Second, I'm sure you all know the vague explanations surrounding TWEWY and the elements therein. Therefore, I might take some leaps with the rules/possible explanations for the sake of the plot. So if any questions arise as to the structure/function of the Reaper Game, let me know, since I may have made alterations. And finally, I don't own anything.

Anywho, enjoy, you _factoring hectopascals_

* * *

**Day 1**

His eyes slowly opened, adjusting to the bright sunlight shining directly on him. It was warm, and whatever the hard surface he was laying on was, it was warm too. All he could hear was an incomprehensible clash of noise, drowning out his thoughts. It was like a dream, and yet there was something familiar about where he was, something he couldn't place. He sat up and when he could see clearly, he noticed where he was.

Scramble Crossing, Shibuya

He sat there, confused. How did he end up here? Did he pass out in the middle of the street? No one around him seemed to notice, but then again, the people of Shibuya were generally absorbed in their own worlds, and probably wouldn't be alarmed if dinosaurs came back or an alien spaceship landed.

He stood up, dusting off his clothes. How long had he been lying there? The watch on his wrist read "1:43 P.M", but when he looked over to the Q Floor all it said was "7 DAYS LEFT". He shrugged, _probably some new ad_ _for some new fad._

He walked towards the train station, since, that was how he would get home. However, he took his time strolling the Crossing, absorbing the differences and similarities between people. He always had an artistic sense, and the varied styles of Shibuya satisfied his appetite for expression. Everyone, in an effort to follow the same trends, had each created their own individual self. He was an observer, and to him, Shibuya was the best city to simply observe.

In a thoughtful haze, he reached the Hachiko statue in front of the station and was about to make a left turn when someone yelled "WATCH OUT YOU FACTORING HECTOPASCAL!" He rapidly spun around to see three red monsters following behind him. Having been noticed, they charged at him. He could do nothing, so he put up his hands as a hopeless defense, waiting to wake up from this dream. A blinding light flashed around him and he felt like he was flying, or more accurately, falling rapidly downward. Abruptly, the sensation stopped and he was in the same place in front of Hachiko, but it was devoid of people. All the noise, chatter, and energy had just disappeared. It was like someone had flipped the off switch.

He looked around curiously, feeling like he was in a surreal world.

This didn't happen every day.

Then, a quite croaking sound came from behind. Startled, he spun around.

In front of him was what looked like a dog-sized frog with what looked like tattoo legs. It was hard to describe, but he didn't really have much time to think seeing as it was _attacking _him. He made a mad dash for the station, but only to slam into an invisible wall and collapse on the ground. He tilted his head just in time to see the frog leap into the air, and about to land on him. _Dead again_, he thought as he shut his eyes, hoping this time the dream would end.

The end never came. When he opened his eyes, the frog was gone, and the people were back to their normal activities.

_What in the world…?_

No one seemed to notice anything, much less their wavering existence. It was as if nothing happened. It was if everything was normal. It was as if a dog-sized frog never attacked.

But that made no sense.

"Well geez, I was expecting some form of thanks you insignificant digit."

Standing before him, a tanned skin, dark haired boy frowned aggressively. He was quite sure no one could even come close to frowning as aggressively, or at least, frowning aggressively at all.

"The name's Sho." The boy said in a clear voice, "And you're now _my_ coefficient."

_What is he talking about? _

"What's your name, radian?" the boy asked, switching to an aggressive smile. It was all aggression with this guy.

"Sanae Hanekoma_," _replied Sanae, with a slight hint of worry in his voice.

"Hmm…nice binomial!" Sho chirped.

"Thanks?" Sanae replied, not sure what that meant exactly.

"Anyway, you know the bounds of this game, right?" asked Sho, seemingly full of energy.

"Run that by me again."

"The rules?"

"No, I'm afraid I do not," Sanae responded, rubbing the back of his neck, completely lost and confused.

"Well, make your axes comfortable, because this is going to be a long explanation."

Sanae didn't know what to make of this quick-paced and fast-thinking guy. Actually, Sanae didn't know what to make of this whole situation. The only things he knew was that his head hurt, and that if he had any hope of learning anything, he had to try to understand the math pun lunatic.


	2. Chapter 2

**Day 1**

"And that's all I really know about the game," Sho concluded, adjusting his hat.

Sanae nodded slowly.

He had just sat through the strangest half-hour of explanation he had ever heard. Reapers? Erasure? Noise? It was like he was put into a twisted video game, except much more real.

"Okay so, why are we here in the first place?" asked Sanae, hoping for a sensible answer not involving Reapers, but seeing as how things were going…

"We died," frowned Sho, who was playing with his bracelets.

"Excuse me?" blurted Sanae, hoping he misheard that.

"We were subtracted from the living. In other words, we're dead," explained Sho, but still in a cheery voice that made it seem like a normal thing to say.

"Dead? As in, we _died_?" Sanae cried hysterically.

"Yep," confirmed Sho.

Sanae felt dizzy. Dead? He didn't feel dead.

"Well how?" he demanded.

"I don't know how you were decimated, but I crashed my motorcycle. A shame really, I had such promise," he said, looking to the sky in a mock profound way.

Sanae briefly wondered why a sixteen year old was riding a motorcycle, but was instantly interrupted by the fact he had _no _idea how he died. There was nothing in his memory even remotely hinting at his death.

"I can't remember anything," replied Sanae, a hint of worry in his voice.

Sho's eyes lit up.

"Oh my GCF, maybe you were quietly assassinated by ninjas!"

Sanae stared at him blankly.

"No really, that could've happened!" urged Sho. "I saw it in a movie!"

Sanae still stared at him blankly.

Sho laughed.

"I was only kidding, trying to be funny. 'Cause, you know, death isn't the best outcome."

Ignoring the math puns, Sanae racked his brain trying to piece things together, but nothing was connecting. He put his hands in his pockets, hoping he had his cell phone. Did the UG have good reception? But instead of finding his phone, he pulled out a metal pin.

It was cold to the touch and had a white "X" over a black background.

"Oh, right, there's the pin I was talking about. Put it on! Put it on!" urged Sho, who seemed excited.

Carefully, Sanae unclipped the metal bar and strung it through his vest, setting it in place with a click.

Nothing happened.

Then, in a single instant, everyone's emotions came charging at him. Feelings of happiness, of guilt, and of anger rushed over him and it was like he was being attacked. They came at him from every angle, from every person around him. He rapidly unclipped the pin, and the barrage dissipated.

"What happened?" asked Sho, concerned.

Sanae looked at the pin in his hand.

"I could read people's emotions," he replied. He wasn't sure how he knew it was people's emotions, but it was.

"So cool!" responded Sho. "It'll be zetta handy."

"Doesn't yours do that?" asked Sanae.

Sho shook his head.

"Nah, mine lets me read people's minds."

Sanae's jaw dropped. Read people's minds? What _are_ these pins?

"Oh, do you have any other pins?" the math freak asked.

Sanae dug into his pockets and pulled out a single pin. It had a black "X" with a white background.

"That's new," stated Sho, looking genuinely surprised.

"How do you use it? Same as the last?"

"Oh no, this one is different. Just kinda, I dunno, focus on it and how to use it will come to you. That's how I figured out mine."

Sanae closed his eyes, since he thought best that way. He could never focus when there were other interesting things to look at. Standing straight up, Sanae focused on the pin and the feeling of it in his hand.

After a moment, he cracked a smile.

He knew how to use the pin.

"Wanna test it out?" grinned Sho.

"Hell, yeah," smirked Sanae.

It was then, he realized, that maybe this insane game could be fun.

* * *

Hi again. Just popping in to say that the chapters will be short/more frequent rather than long/dispersed due to my free time schedule. Also, after this, I won't butt in at the beginning/end unless I have something important to say.

So once again, thanks for reading! And much love to NoiseDrifter for reviewing!


	3. Chapter 3

**Day 1**

"You ready, man?" Sho asked as he cracked a wide grin.

Sanae carefully clipped the pin to his lapel and nodded his head.

"Let's go," he confirmed, straightening his vest.

Without warning, Sanae felt the falling feeling again. Luckily, he knew to shut his eyes to avoid being blinded by the light. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes again. To no surprise, he was in the eerie, silent, and deserted alternate dimension.

_Here we go._

It was dead silent.

But then again, that's how it usually started.

He heard a low growl behind him and turned around just in time to dodge a wolf noise lunging at him. Running to the opposite end to create space and give him more time, Sanae turned around to face his opponent.

"_Expand your horizons_!" he yelled confidently, holding out his arm.

The pin on his lapel sparkled gold, and it began to make a whirring noise. The wolf dashing towards him howled and gnarled its teeth; giving Sanae only a few seconds.

_Here we go._

The wolf was about to attack, and the pin was only sparkling.

_Come on._

The wolf was almost upon him, and Sanae could see in detail its sharp fangs and its fierce eyes. His heart beat accelerated slightly.

_Come on!_

The creature was only half a second away. Its mouth was wide open and he could clearly see the strong muscles around its jaws. Saliva was flying out and Sanae could almost feel its teeth closing in on him, tearing him apart, leaving nothing but a bloody mess. His heart sped up and adrenaline rapidly rushed through his body, increasing his panicked mind state.

_Come ON! _

Then, the wolf forcefully rammed into him, sending him crashing to the ground. Its teeth ripped into his arm, and as its fangs dug deeper and deeper, Sanae screamed. Blood violently gushed out of him and he was close to being paralyzed by fear.

"COME ON!_" _he begged aloud as the wolf let go of his arm. The monster faced him, ready for the kill.

"EXPAND YOUR WORLD!" he cried desperately, hoping for something to happen.

The wolf's eyes sharpened, about to jump.

"EXPAND YOUR WORLD!" screamed Sanae with all the power and ferocity he had in his body. He held his arm and the blood soaked through his fingers.

The monster sprang up and Sanae's heart sank.

_My world ends here…_

Sanae thought back to all the things that had happened. How he had died, how he had come back to life, and how he was, apparently, still dead. He wasn't sure how he had got here in the first place, and now, he figured, he'd never know. But what was going to happen to him now? The math freak had said something about being erased from existence. Erasure? Yeah, that was it, that was the word. He couldn't imagine not existing, or not having existed. Would it hurt? Sanae thought about all he would leave behind, his family, his friends, the city. Would they all forget him, he wondered.

_Maybe that's for the best._

He shut his eyes.

"Yo, yoctogram, you gonna subtract this bastard or what?"

Sho stood above him with his hands on his hips. Sanae looked to his arm, and for some reason, it was all healed. He sat up quickly.

"What…?" he began.

Sho rolled his eyes.

"Wow, do I have to explain _everything_ to you? Sometimes, when we're fighting real well or in sync or something, the dimensions between us break and we get to fight on the same plane. When this happens, it also comes with nice extraneous stuff, like healing or a pin reboot."

Sanae tried to compute what was going on. One moment he was close to death, and the next, he was perfectly fine. This seemed to be happening a lot today.

Sho put his hands in his pockets.

"So that leaves the question, do you want to annihilate this extrema, or should I?"

Sanae looked to the side.

"Go ahead," he said quietly.

Sho smirked as what looked like holographic numbers appeared in front of him. They seemed to form lines of equations.

"_X = _ " he said, and a dark ray shot out at the wolf.

It disappeared in seconds.

With that, the dimension faded and they were back in their Shibuya.

"How did you do that?" asked Sanae as he stood up.

"Oh, the numbers?" smiled Sho "Each equation does a certain something. Depending on which one I use, I can teleport, heal, or attack. Quite handy, I should say."

Sanae nodded, looking to the ground.

"So what does your psych do?" he asked curiously.

Sanae frowned.

"Nothing."

Sho's eyes widened.

"What?"

"The pin, it does nothing. I tried to get it to work, but it didn't."

Sho looked more confused than Sanae at the moment.

"But didn't you see how to work it?"

"Yeah, but that didn't help."

"What did you see, then?"

"I saw myself, saying '_expand your world' _and morphing into a big lion noise."

"_Lion_ noise?" repeated Sho, taking it all in.

"Well, at least, that's what it looked like."

Sho folded his arms. He looked like he was trying to solve a complicated problem, which was what he was doing, but it didn't seem like he was going to come to an answer soon.

Then, his cell phone rang.

"Mission mail!" he chirped, pulling out his phone.

Sanae remembered what Sho told him about missions and mission mail.

Hopefully it was easy.

"What does it say?" asked Sanae, craning his neck to see the text message.

Sho scratched his head.

"Uh…."

"What is it?"

Sho handed the phone over to Sanae. The screen read:

"Reach Hachiko, Time- 30 mins."

Sanae gave him the phone back.

"Think we can do it in time?" he asked.

"I don't know," Sho said, looking from where they were to the statue three feet away. "It might be a bit too difficult."

Sanae shook his head.

"Such as shame, I thought we'd be able to beat this thing," he said as he walked over to the statue.

"Me too," whistled Sho.

The timer didn't even have a chance to appear.

* * *

Okay, I lied about keeping my talking to a minimum. Anywho, I just wanted to say that I have midterms next week, so not only has most of this week been consumed by stressing over them, but next week will be mostly the same thing. So I guess no updates for a while...?


	4. Chapter 4

**Day 2**

Sanae awoke with a jolt to find himself in the middle A-East. As he sat up, he saw red indent marks on his skin, which were most likely obtained from lying on the pavement. As specks of rubble fell from the back of his shirt, he looked up. The sky was a bright blue, so it was neither early morning nor late at night. Looking at his phone, the guess was verified: it was 1:40 PM.

To his left, Sho lay in a crumpled heap, snoring loudly. From afar, it looked almost impossible for a human to be in that position, and needless to say for someone to be comfortable. Sanae would've thought he was dead if he didn't sound like a dying whale. But he decided to just let him sleep, at least, until the mission mail came in. He didn't want to know what a sleep deprived math genius sounded like.

He got up and looked around. He recognized the entrance to the stage, a common venue for top-notch performers. Although he wouldn't admit it, Sanae had a thing for pop music, and had actually gone to quite a few concerts before he died. To avoid ridicule, he always said alternative was his favorite, though it had never been quite true.

On the other side, a gothic store called Lapin Angelique stood quietly in the corner. To be honest, Sanae had never seen anyone go in or come out of that store. Naturally, he was a bit wary of it. He had nothing against goths, but he was a bit unsettled by them, and always associated them with death. Hopefully his mission would not involve that store.

"Wanna go in there?" asked Sho, out of nowhere.

Sanae jumped.

"Sorry," Sho added, buttoning his jacket, "Didn't mean to break your focus."

"It's fine."

"So let's go in," urged Sho, pulling Sanae's arm in the direction of the store.

"Why?" asked Sanae, pulling back, hoping his response would be dumb enough to warrant not going in.

"Why _not_? We can go into stores with that label on them and get cool stuff, and it might increase the probability that we stay alive. Or, I guess, in this case, stay not erased."

"Does it have to be that store?" cried Sanae, desperately wishing Sho had just stayed asleep.

"Yes, come on! And aren't you the one yelling 'expand you horizons' all over the place?"

Unfortunately, Sho hadn't made a dumb argument, and Sanae was dragged into the one place he didn't want to go. He trudged behind the math genius with his hands in his pockets, glancing up at the sky. The sky, not doing anything to help his situation, disappeared and gave way to the dark tiled ceiling of the gothic store.

"Welcome!" chimed a voice from the back of the room. From behind a counter, a beautiful young woman, dressed in an elegant purple Lolita dress with a small, matching hat perched atop her dark curls, emerged in an excited manner. "How can I help you?"

"Looks like we came to the right place," smirked Sho, tilting his hat up in a cocky manner.

"_Oh please don't."_ thought Sanae, nervously rubbing his neck, partially out of embarrassment for Sho, and partially out of embarrassment for himself.

"Looking for anything in particular?" the saleslady asked.

"Not really, we're just looking for something zetta cool for my friend to wear," Sho paused. With a smile, he added "And he's a bit new, so he'll need some help."

Sanae was about to say something.

"In that case, come this way. We have loads of things in mens' size," the lady said as she led them to the left side of the store. As she rummaged through the rack, Sanae mouthed behind her back to Sho.

"I am going to kill you."

Sho grinned.

"Why don't you start with these?" the lady asked, holding up a shirt with arm warmers and bandage pants. Luckily, they didn't look too over the top. Sanae took them with a weak smile and headed towards the changing room, a bit worried about leaving Sho alone with the lady. He was already feeling massive amounts of second hand embarrassment.

When Sanae left, Sho turned towards the clerk with a cheeky smile. He leaned against the clothes stand.

"So, are you dead too?" he asked, with an eyebrow raised.

"Excuse me?" she replied, confused.

"Sorry, that was a bit improper. What's your name?" he asked instead, covering his last question.

"Princess K"

"Nice nomial, has a sweet resonance to it."

"Um, thanks?"

The clerk was becoming uncomfortable. Thankfully, Sanae emerged moments later. He struggled not to trip over the bandages dragging from the pants, but he managed to make it over to them without flying to the floor.

"So, does it work?" he said, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Sho turned toward him and covered his mouth to stop himself from laughing.

"It looks…_great_," he spattered.

The clerk gave Sho a menacing glare.

"We'll take them," Sho concluded, noting the gains in defense listed on the tag. Defense is what Sanae needs most, he reminded himself. The clerk nodded her head and went over to cash register. As they walked over, Sanae frowned.

"A bit hypocritical to not get anything for yourself," he stated darkly.

"You kidding?" Sho laughed. "I'm getting that!"

Sanae followed his gesture to see a long, elegant black cape on display.

And it was then that he started doubting his chances of survival.


End file.
